Gang jailed after women tied up in house robbery

Two men have been jailed after they forced their way into a house and tied up and robbed the occupants after threatening them with an imitation firearm.

Derek Brown and Kevin Gibbs travelled from Norwich with another unidentified man to the house in Boston in November, Lincolnshire Police said.

Once inside they held the gun to the heads of three women and wielded a knife demanding property before making off with a Rolex watch, purses and mobile phones, the force added.

Lincoln Crown Court heard one of the women was seven months pregnant.

Police identified the vehicle the gang used and armed officers raided their flat later the same evening.

DNA found at the scene linked Brown to the robbery and Gibbs was traced from the renting of the hire car, the court heard.

Brown, 61, of Kirklees, Norwich, was sentenced to 12 years and nine months for robbery and possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Gibbs, 46, of Sherwell Road, Hellesdon, was sentenced to 11 years and two months for the same offences.

The pair had pleaded guilty to all charges on 12 March.

Passing sentence, Judge Simon Hirst told both defendants it was a joint enterprise which caused trauma to the three victims.

"The firearm was pointed at each of the three ladies," the judge said.

"They thought they would be shot if you did not get what you wanted."

Speaking after the men were jailed, Det Con Chad Birch said: "This was a particularly terrifying ordeal in which the victims genuinely feared for their lives.

"Such acts of violence and intimidation are completely unacceptable. No one should ever be subjected to such trauma, least of all within the sanctuary of their own home."

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